The White House's campaign to name and shame irresponsible news outlets is now being trained on an allegedly faulty analysis of the Cash for Clunkers program by automotive website Edmunds.com.
In a blog post, White House internet guru Macon Phillips complains that Edmunds's claim of a $24,000 federal cost for each car sold through the program is hyped and lacks support.
"This is the latest of several critical 'analyses' of the Cash for Clunkers program from Edmunds.com of a $24,000 cost for each which appear designed to grab headlines and get coverage on cable TV," Phillips griped, suggesting that the site's rationale would imply some buyers came from "Mars."
The White House also complains that Edmunds.com is being opaque about its data.
However, some of the wording in Phillips's post may also suffer from a degree of opacity. For example, when he talks about "the price impacts that a program like Cash for Clunkers has on the rest of the vehicle market," I think he's referring to the fact that demand driven by the program may have led some car buyers to pay more than they would have otherwise.
Of course, driving up car prices is a two way street. The Council on Economic Advisers analysis of the clunkers program notes that prices for and values of used cars may have gone up since so many were permanently taken out of the mark. That could benefit car owners, at least theoretically.
UPDATE: Edmunds has responded with a statement posted here.
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Notwithstanding the analysis provided by Edmunds, do you agree that the overall marketplace and economy are improving?
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not dispute their findings that a gov't program costs several times its purported benefits, I have to digress on the other conclusion that the overall economy has improved.
Edmunds is an outstanding source of all things automotive. They are well respected by everyone in the automotive community including manufacturers, dealers, and their fellow automotive press. The White House may have a bigger problem attacking them then they did with Fox News.
ReplyDeleteThere where so many restrictions with this clunker deal i didn't even bother to take advantage seems like a big fraud deal to me.
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